Using Sarcocornia fruticosa and Saccharomyces cerevisiae to remediate metal contaminated sediments of the Ria Formosa lagoon (SE Portugal)

Ria Formosa lagoon is a coastal system in the south of Portugal, characterized by sediments contaminated from urban and industrial pollution emissions. In this study, sediments from two contrasted metal contamination level sites, colonized by Sarcocornia fruticosa were used in an on-site experimentation. The heavy metal removal efficiencies of S. fruticosa with and without bioaugmentation using autochthonous metal resistant isolated yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) were compared. After 15 days of incubation, the total amount of metal concentration (Cd, Pb, Ni, Cr, and Cu) in sediments and plant matter were compared. We found a striking difference between heavily contaminated site and less contaminated site. Metal reductions in heavily contaminated site were generated more by S. fruticosa which was inoculated with S. cerevisiae. In the less contaminated sediments, the higher percentage reductions were achieved with S. fruticosa alone. Our results indicate that despite the phytoremediation potential of S. fruticosa, the addition of S. cerevisiae, increases the plant phytoremediation capacity. (C) 2018 European Regional Centre for Ecohydrology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.